Croatia coach
Slaven Bilic said the dramatic penalty shootout loss Friday to Turkey in the quarter-final of Euro 2008 would haunt him and his players for the rest of
their lives.
Croatia looked to have set up a semi-final date with Germany when substitute
Ivan Klasnic headed his side in front in the second-last minute of extra-time
but incredibly there was still time for Semih Senturk to equalize for Turkey,
who went on to prevail 3-1 in the penalty shoot-out.
"If you sum up the 120 minutes we had more chances than the Turks but they
exerted some pressure too," said Bilic.
"The last two minutes were unbelievable, this will probably haunt me for
the rest of my life."
Bilic said the loss was naturally a bitter disappointment as he and his players
thought that they could have gone to the end of the tournament.
"This isn't going to be easy to forget as this is not the type of game you
play every week where you win some and you lose some," said the
39-year-old.
"We will never forget this, it will be with us for the rest of our lives.
But we have to go on. We have a young team."
One player who probably won't have a chance to digest the result on the pitch
is captain Niko Kovac.
"I am now 36 years old," said the defender. "I don't really have
many chances left to make this disappear. I will carry it around with me for
the rest of my life.", according to dpa.